Global Bankers Say Trade Pressure on China May Force It to Open Doors

International bankers are cautiously optimistic that China will grant foreign banks wider access to its market, despite the country's anger over NATO's bombing of its embassy in Belgrade.

Bankers attending the annual meeting of the Bankers Association for Foreign Trade here last week said that China is under pressure to raise its restrictions on foreign-bank entry, to help ensure that its exports to the United States will maintain most-favored-nation status. Without that status, China would have to pay far higher import taxes than most other countries, making its goods less competitive in the States.